From Ideas to Digital Product Designs at Hai Sing Catholic School

How can a rough idea become a product concept that others can understand?

Secondary 3 Design and Technology students from Hai Sing Catholic School explored this question through a four-hour Digital Product Sketching programme conducted by Make The Change.

Across two hands-on sessions, students used SketchBook to develop their ideas, construct product forms and communicate their designs digitally.

Building ideas through digital sketching

The first session focused on ideation and product form development.

Students began by learning that product sketching is more than creating an attractive drawing. Designers use sketches to explore possibilities, solve problems and communicate how a product could look and function.

Through guided activities, students learnt how to:

• Generate multiple ideas through rapid thumbnail sketches

• Develop ideas using the Double Diamond design process

• Draw with more confident and controlled strokes

• Use construction lines and one-point perspective

• Build product forms from simple geometric shapes

• Organise rough and refined sketches using layers

Rather than trying to perfect their first idea, students were encouraged to sketch quickly, compare different possibilities and select a promising concept for further development.

Making product concepts look more realistic

During the second session, students developed their line sketches through colour, lighting, texture and material rendering.

They explored how light and shadow help a flat drawing communicate depth and volume.

They also learnt that different materials require different visual treatments.

For example, students used:

• Smooth highlights to suggest plastic

• Strong contrast and reflections to represent metal

• Grain lines and warmer colours to communicate wood

• Shadows to give products a sense of volume

• Annotations to explain important features and benefits

These techniques helped students move beyond basic digital drawing and begin using SketchBook as a tool for design communication.

What the students learnt

Feedback collected after the programme showed strong engagement and meaningful learning.

Across 31 feedback submissions, the programme received an average rating of 4.52 out of 5. A total of 84% of the submissions awarded the sessions four or five stars.

In their written responses, students frequently highlighted learning about:

• Perspective lines and vanishing points

• Ideation and brainstorming

• Rough and construction sketching

• Confident line work

• Rendering and shading

• Light sources and highlights

• Textures and material representation

• Drawing plastic, metal and wood

One student shared that the programme helped them learn about “perspective lines, how to evaluate ideas, and how to make new ideas from one main idea.”

Another student highlighted learning “how to render different materials, why certain materials are rendered in certain ways, and the different parts of rendering.”

The responses showed a clear progression from understanding how to construct a product form to learning how to present it more convincingly.

Learning through demonstration and practice

The workshop combined live demonstrations, guided exercises, independent practice and individual feedback.

Students had opportunities to show their work directly to the trainer and their teacher during the sessions.

The programme also reminded us of the importance of breaking digital techniques into clear, manageable steps. Future sessions will include even more live, projected demonstrations so students can closely follow each technique before applying it independently.

Supporting future-ready creative skills

Digital product sketching brings together creativity, technology and problem-solving.

By learning how to generate ideas, use digital tools and communicate design decisions, students develop skills that can support further learning in design, media and technology.

We are grateful to Hai Sing Catholic School for the opportunity to work with its Secondary 3 D&T students. We look forward to supporting more young people as they use technology to transform their ideas into meaningful creative work.

Bring digital creativity to your school

Make The Change develops hands-on programmes that equip students with creative, digital and future-ready skills.

If your school is interested in digital drawing, content creation, design thinking or creative technology programmes, contact Make The Change to explore a programme for your students.